TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 31 saves for his 35th career shutout and the Tampa Bay Lightning ended the Washington Capitals’ five-game winning streak with a 3-0 victory on Saturday night. Vasilevskiy was at his best in the second period, stopping all 16 shots he faced.
He robbed Pierre-Luc Dubois and Dylan Strome late in the period — and got some help from the post on another shot by Dubois. It was the 297th victory of his career and his first shutout against Washington. Mitchell Chaffee gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 5:27 of the second period, deflecting a shot by Nick Paul past Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren, who finished with 17 saves.
Brayden Point made it 2-0 at 2:26 of the third period, and Conor Geekie scored his first NHL goal at 3:10. Nikita Kucherov extended his season-opening point streak to eight games with the primary assist on Point’s goal. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, who has 50 career goals in 82 games against the Lightning, was limited to two shots on goal.
Capitals: Washington had outscored its opponents 23-13 during the five-game winning streak. Lightning: Tampa Bay has scored first in each of its eight games this season, but this was the first time in their five victories that the Lightning scored fewer than four goals. Vasilevskiy stopped Aliaksei Protas on a breakaway from the red line 2:28 into the first period to keep the game scoreless.
The Capitals were 0-for-2 on the power play, dropping them to 2-for-23 this season..